Fresh From The Production Line: Fairtrade Collective

Fairtrade Collective stand at Estethica

As always visiting the British Fashion Council’s Estethica exhibition during LFW is an eye-opening experience, guaranteed to uncover the newest brands and initiatives promoting fair-trade as a global multi-faceted concept, and in this case, sustainable fashion. This season proved to be no different with the Fairtrade Foundation introducing the Fairtrade Collective; uniting the Fairtrade Foundation with producers, designers and ASOS to make a big impact on fashion as we know it.

Design by Julie Verhoeven

Teaming up with 14 designers including - one of my favourites - Julie Verhoeven, Holly Fulton, Ada Zanditon, London Undercover, Tim Soar and Marios Schwab to name but a few, Fairtrade Collective has created a bespoke range of highly exquisite and desirable scarves - for both men and women - made from fair-trade certified cotton, sold exclusively by influential fashion e-tailer and market leader, ASOS.

Design by London Undercover

Using only the finest in digital printing techniques, each scarf bears the handwriting of its designer, acting like a signed piece of art – which will hopefully exude the same ‘priceless’ qualities. Choosing a combination of the established old guard and a staple of new generation talent, each designer has created a unique scarf that is on-trend for the forthcoming season and screams luxury.

Design by Tim Soar

Available from ASOS since the end of February to mark Fairtrade Fortnight (28 February - 13 March), each scarf purchased will come packaged in a beautiful draw-string bag made from fair-trade certified cotton repeating the same fabric choice and design of the scarf itself, cleverly maximising its longevity.

Design by Holly Fulton

On her involvement with the Fairtrade Foundation, Holly Fulton says: “It’s vital to utilize cotton in a modern fashion through strong design. Hopefully projects such as this will encourage that; I certainly look at fair-trade in a different light now.”

Scrapbook: Julie Verhoeven

I've been a fan of Verhoeven for around a decade; since I began pouring over the pages of cult magazines such as Dazed, witnessing first-hand Verhoeven bringing illustration back to editorial. Initially I was attracted by her love of bright colour and whimsical illustration, which routinely depicted wide-eyed, pouty waifs. Several school and college art projects were inspired by her - with me producing large scale paintings of my favourite pieces (pictured above). Having worked with a plethora of world renowned brands (Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Peter Jensen, V&A, Sky, Self Service, Versace, Sketch, Numero, Gibo, Selfridges, Loewe and H&M to name but a few), to my mind Verhoeven is the most commercially successful illustrator of her generation.

Julie Verhoeven for Jaeger Boutique

I'm still absolutely loving this Julie Verhoeven for Jaeger poster and can't wait to frame it. More about my crush on Julie tomorrow...

SS11 Press Days: Jaeger

One of my favourite press days of the season so far is that of Jaeger, who I genuinely feel are getting better and better with each season, deftly balancing their need to keep their stalwart customer base, whilst attracting a new generation of consumers. As soon as I entered the showroom space up on the second floor I spied Jaeger Boutique commissioned illustrations by one of my all-time favourite illustrators, Julie Verhoeven (pictured below). 

With a great range of slightly preppy, playful separates and gorgeous dresses I have many favourite pieces, including the hot pink scalloped edge skirt (below, right).

On the mainline Jaeger London side of things I love all of the beige, which is something I never thought I'd say, as for me its one of the dullest colours around, but as I'm getting older the more I'm understanding its chic properties. I particularly like the loose knit sweater top and navy asymmetric dress (below, right). With sophisticated cuts, sleek digital prints, crochet dresses noless and an array of luxe fabrics, this collection is a winner, so is a good place to invest next SS.

I also loved the strong tailoring present across the evening jackets (below, right and above x2).

Menswear was chic, classic and pretty much exactly what I expected, in the best possible way.